


lost in a forest temple

by gleamfeels



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: 10k, DAN AND PHIL - Freeform, Fluff, Gettingtogether, Happy Ending, M/M, Phan - Freeform, Plane Crash, Smut, Tiny bit of Angst, over 10k, strangerstolovers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-26
Updated: 2018-10-26
Packaged: 2019-08-08 01:17:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 13,809
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16419656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gleamfeels/pseuds/gleamfeels
Summary: Dan and Phil meet on a plane to Australia, aka one of the longest possible flights. They get off on the wrong foot, but bond as anxiety levels rise and disaster strikes.





	lost in a forest temple

**Author's Note:**

> lightly inspired by the tv show lost 
> 
> I was searching for plane crash/lost phan aus recently and couldn't find anything, so I figured I might as well write my own since I have way too much free time. Enjoy!   
> word count; 13870  
> warnings; smut   
> genre; fluff with light smut and a bit of angst

"I got lost but look what I found."  
\- Irving Berlin  
——————  
"Can you please get these ideas out to Stacy  
? I don't have time today." Dan spoke as he fluttered his eyelashes jokingly and flashed a smile at his assistant knowing she'd cave. Hell, he could fire her if she doesn't. He hated pulling that card, though. He's important and he knows that, but he still would never purposely use his position to negatively impact an undeserving person's life. The thought was nearly repulsive to him as he had met multiple people in the business that have no empathy at all. She sighed and grabbed the freshly printed paper from His hands. They'd discovered early on that Stacy never checked her phone or business emails, so the best way to get to her was through physical paper. It was only a minor inconvenience since she worked in the same building, but out of the ordinary nonetheless. He barely got out a quiet "Thank you" before she disappeared behind the elevator doors. 

Dan walked quickly walked toward Judy's office, aka the 'Head of BBC Talent' so he could discuss which guests would come on his upcoming shows.   
He opened the door after placing a couple of knocks upon the wooden door. "Come in!" His designer shoes padded through the familiar space until he planted himself in the small leather chair in front of her desk. He interlaced his fingers across his lap and blew out a breath. 

"So.." he began, but was quickly interrupted by Judy shaking her head with a look of discontent on her face. Dan knew that look.   
"What?" She sighed.   
"I talked to stickass.." Another sigh, this time from Dan.   
The nickname was for a man that was a huge dick, but had more power in the company than Dan and Judy combined.   
"What'd he say?" The sentence was long and drawn out with a clear hint of dread and annoyance lacing the words together.  
"Well... He wants you to fly to Australia for a conference. I know it's shitty, but really you should be flattered that he chose you and not Charlie. Plus you're getting paid for it." Judy's voice went up an octave during the last sentence.

He rolled his eyes, "I don't have an option, do I?" He inquired rhetorically. Judy shook her head. "Afraid not, Howell. You're leaving this Sunday and staying until the following friday. Now get out, you have work to do." He rolled his eyes and playfully flipped her off as he walked out of her office. She waved him out with a smile. 

The next week went by quickly due to his overcrowded schedule, so he was left with only the night before his flight to pack. He shoved a plethora of black shirts and jeans into his suitcase along with his essentials, aka deodorant, underwear, and the way too expensive shampoo that kept his curls somewhat under control. He shoved the rest of his regularly used belongings into his suitcase and went straight to bed. He remained restless for a few hours and decided to scroll through his phone for a few minutes. A few minutes turned into an hour, and soon he realized it was 3 am, and turned his phone off. 

He awoke to the obnoxious sound he set as his alarm a year ago but was of course too lazy to change, and slipped out of bed with a disgruntled "ugh."  
"Too fucking early," he mumbled as he checked the time on his coffee maker and was met with the numbers "07:00" in neon green.   
He poured a steaming cup of coffee and didn't hesitate before chugging it. His taste buds had gotten used to his morning antics long ago, so he didn't even bother caring about burning his tongue anymore. It tasted bitter, but he didn't care enough to spend an extra few second to pour creamer into it. The rest of his morning consisted of him shoving corn flakes in his mouth whilst finding something to wear, brushing teeth, and getting an uber to the airport. 

The uber ride was incredibly uncomfortable, and left Dan praying his morning wasn't gonna get any weirder. The man driving kept talking about serial killers and how he sometimes wishes he had no empathy or emotions so he could simply go on a murdering spree.   
'I should really get a car' Dan thought as he grabbed his nearly forgotten luggage from the trunk and waved to the driver.   
He passed through security without any problems, and was stuck waiting 30 minutes until he could board his flight. He drummed his fingers on his thigh to the beat of a random song on his plane playlist, and closed his eyes. He quickly became submerged in a deep sleep, resulting in him waking up to a lady tapping on his shoulder.   
"Australia flight, right? It's boarding in five minutes, hun."   
He blinked his eyes open, mumbling an "Oh," and gathering his belongings.   
He quickly glanced at the woman and said "Thank you!" Before heading toward the gate. He got there just in time, thank god. 

He found his seat quickly, huffing as he realized BBC weren't willing to splurge on first class, meaning he had to squeeze his 6'2 frame into a tiny seat. To his dismay, a man about as tall as him was sitting next to his seat and looking out the window with earbuds in.   
He quietly sat down and made sure his belongings weren't in the man's way, and mirrored his decision in listening to music. Or a serial killer audio book if the black haired stranger was anything like his uber driver.   
When Dan reached down for his phone his awkwardly long arm went across the armrest and accidentally touched the man's elbow. He apologized and quickly retracted his arm only to be met with and eyeroll and a look in the other direction. Dan's eyebrow raised as he internally wished that he didn't have to spend an absurdly long flight next to an asshole stranger. 'This is gonna be a long flight.' He thought, but attempted to only keep positive thoughts in his mind. Like kangaroos.  
'I am 100% going to make time to see some fucking kangaroos.' His internal monologue went on for the rest of the beginning of the flight in an attempt to soothe his rapidly increasing anxiety levels. 

They were so high in the air, and they were going to be over water soon. His hands began to shake and he struggled to take deep breaths like he knew he should. After a good 10 minutes of panic, the man next to him tapped his shoulder. He hadn't even realized the man was looking at him and had removed his earbuds in order to talk to Dan. Dan quickly ripped his headphones off and pressed the pause button. He met the man's worried gaze. "Uhm do you need the bathroom or something?"   
He stumbled over his words, the anxiety clear in his voice. The man inched a bit closer.   
"I used to be really nervous on flights, I know how shitty it is. D'you wanna talk for a bit? Get your mind off it?"   
He asked in a rich northern accent, giving Dan time to study his features. 'Wow, I'm so gay.' Dan thought as he noticed his sharp jawline and perfect yet messy black quiff. He was getting more nervous, but for an entirely different reason. His mouth was gaping a bit, and he realized the man was becoming more worried seeing as he wasn't responding. He nodded quickly and shut his mouth. "Uh, yeah, t-that'd be great." The man nodded and Dan noticed a hint of a smile on his face. "Alright then, I'm Phil by the way." He did an awkward wave. Dan smiled, shifting in his seat. "I'm Dan." 

The conversation started off awkward, but they slowly realized they had a lot in common, like they both had emo phases that they pretty much just got over, and they both liked ribena a bit too much. They talked for a while, and hit a lull in conversation after a flight attendant walked by and asked if they wanted anything. They both asked for water. It was tempting to Dan to order alcohol of some sort, but he felt as if he needed to make a good impression on the attractive and nice man beside him.   
Phil shifted slightly, and smiled at Dan. "Feeling better yet?" Dan ducked his head, realizing he was probably blushing. He nodded. "Yeah, thank you, Phil." He said sincerely, but secretly he hoped their conversations wouldn't end. 

They stayed silent for a while whilst watching movies until the plane jolted and began to shake. Turbulence, it was nothing new to Dan. He'd traveled for work and for fun multiple times throughout the years, but was still admittedly terrified of the way the plane shook. Dan noticed Phil taking his headphones off and pausing his movie, so he did the same. Phil placed his hand over Dan's shaky one, a gesture that was sweet but would've been uncomfortable with anyone other than Phil since he'd only met him a few hours ago. Dan look up at Phil with a somewhat scared face. Phil gave him a comforting smile and squeezed his hand. If he wasn't convinced he was about to die he most likely would be shitting his pants over the fact that an extremely attractive guy was basically holding his hand. Phil repeatedly swept his thumb across the top of Dan's hand. Dan finally looked away, realizing how creepy it was to keep staring at him. Phil's gaze remained on Dan, causing him to shift uncomfortably. 

"Hey, look at me."   
Phil said after a few seconds, startling Dan out of his rapidly moving thoughts. Dan did as Phil said, though the gaze felt like it was piercing through him.   
"You're gonna be okay, I promise. It's just some turbulence, but I know it's scary."   
Dan looked Dan and bit his lip, his hand tightening on the armrest. Another jolt. Dan flipped his hand over and intertwined his fingers with Phil's. Phil's slightly comforting thumb movements continued, and thankfully he didn't seem to mind the semi intimate position they were in.   
"D'you think fish know that they're underwater?" Phil asked suddenly after gazing out at the open ocean beneath them. Dan snorted, much to the displeasure of the old woman sat in the isle seat closest to him.  
"It depends on how intelligent they are, I guess. I dunno, I'm not a fish expert."   
Phil smiled, and Dan swore he felt his heart skip a beat. They continued talking about fish and various animals and their intelligence levels, though Dan's thoughts were mostly about Phil's hand in his. Dan spaced out for a moment, and then realized the turbulence had stopped minutes ago. 

Phil fell asleep moments later with his hand still in Dan's. Dan couldn't bring himself to pull away. He decided sleeping was probably a good idea if possible for him, so he shut his eyes. His thoughts were flooded with the captivating shapes and colors of Phil's face, the features standing alone beautifully in his mind. 'He's gorgeous' was his parting thought before he fell asleep. He dreamed of being swimming in water the same blue as Phil's eyes. 

He woke up roughly 5 hours later, and groggily reached to rub his eyes. He gently pulled his right hand away only to be met with the resistance of Phil's flesh. "Oh." He mumbled, realizing Phil was still asleep, and they had been holding hands for hours. He didn't know what to do. As cheesy and weird as it was, he knew he'd feel lonely if he untangled their fingers. He ultimately decided to leave their hands there, and put his headphones back on in order to listen to Frank Ocean. The music was only loud enough to somewhat drown out the conversations and random noises around him. The plane jolted once again.   
'Fuck' he thought, glancing around to see if anyone else was visibly uncomfortable. Nothing. He tightly shut his eyes and opened them with a deep breath. He lightly squeezed Phil's hand, silently hoping it might wake him up. Nothing. 5 jolts in a row. Nothing. 6 in a row this time. He started shaking, his breaths quickening yet he felt like they didn't exist at all. Phil stirred.

"Phil?" He asked quietly, his voice resembling a scared child awakening their mother after a nightmare. Phil exhaled heavily, his eyes slowly opening. He looked at Dan and smiled. Another jolt. Dan's grip tightened.   
"Oh" Phil mumbled. He disconnected their hands, leaving Dan in even more worry. He quickly raised the armrest.   
"Can you scoot over a bit?" Dan raised his eyebrow, but complied. Phil did the same, the space between them closing a lot, but not all the way due to their seatbelts. Phil reached down and grabbed his book with his right hand and grabbed Dan's with his left once again. Phil looked at Dan carefully, almost like he was scared his eyes could hurt him.   
"It's kinda silly, but my family went on vacation every summer and I got really nervous flying so my mum would read to me."   
Dan smiled again, ignoring the currently shaking plane. 

"It's not silly. I don't know why you're going through this much effort to comfort a stranger, but thank you." Dan said sincerely. Phil tilted his head, his eyes roaming Dan's face.   
"Maybe I just have a feeling about you." Dan's face contorted in confusion for a short moment before Phil began reading to him. He couldn't stop thinking about it.

15 minutes later Phil was still reading quietly to Dan, though he wasn't paying much attention. He found himself focusing on Phil's hands- the one in his and the one on his book, and his facial expressions. He was listening intently to the rich tones in Phil's voice, though he had no idea what he was saying. Maybe it was the fact that an insanely beautiful man was holding his hand and was about 2 inches away from him. 

"Are you paying attention?" Phil asked suddenly. Dan jerked awake from his trance like state. "Uh," he mumbled, he didn't have enough energy to lie. Phil smiled and shook his head, continuing his reading aloud. Dan felt himself growing more and more relaxed as every word slipped out of Phil's mouth. The words stopped suddenly, though. Jolt. Scream. Dan's eyes widened, his grip on Phil's hand becoming more and more tight. Phil was growing worried as well, and was too caught up in his own thoughts to comfort him. Dan glanced out the window. All he could see was water, and it was approaching at an alarming rate.   
The oxygen masks came down. Phil untangled their hands momentarily in order to allow time for them to secure their oxygen masks on their faces, but reconnected them immediately. Dan looked over at Phil, his gaze lingering. He was too scared to look at anything else. Phil looked back at him with an equally as anxious face. They were going down even faster. Dan felt tears forming in his eyes. 'This is it.' He thought. He kept thinking about how he didn't want to die, how he had so much to live for. Phil's eyes remained on his, though his right hand came up to Dan's face to wipe away his tears. As fucked up as it was, Dan felt butterflies. 'At least I'll die next to a hot guy.' He thought, nearly laughing out loud at how crazy he sounded. Their eyes remained on eachother as the plane went down, the pace quickening every second. 

Dan awoke several minutes later to the sound of his ears ringing and not much else. He slowly opened his eyes to reveal... Water? He turned around, his fingers grasping the ground to no avail. Sand. He was merely feet away from the ocean, and he was alone.   
"Fuck." He mumbled, his eyes still scanning the trees on the horizon and the sand around him. 'Is this hell?' He thought, his mind flashing back to all the weird porn he's watched and all the fucked up jokes he's made in the past. The trees rustled, making Dan freeze in place. 

"Oh great, now I'm gonna get eaten by a fucking lion. In hell." He spoke aloud, possibly too loud if that actually was a lion. To his surprise, it wasn't. As the trees rustled some more, a figure began walking towards Dan. "Dan?!" The voice asked/yelled. The figure began running, Dan was still frozen in the sand. Dan quickly recognized the bright red nasa t shirt. Phil. He sprung out of place, nearly tripping on his own feet in order to get to Phil. Dan all but jumped on him, nearly knocking him to the ground. Phil recovered quickly and wrapped his arms tight around Dan's frame. Dan's eyes began watering at this point. They remained in the hugging position for an entire minute. Phil's hand slowly moved across Dan's back, the other one holding him impossibly close. Dan hesitantly pulled away, but remained close to Phil.  
"Wh-where are the others?" His voice was as shaky as his hands and full of fear just like I his watery eyes. Phil ran a hand through his messy quiff and sighed.   
"I don't know, I just woke up over there," he pointed toward the trees, "and walked over here." Dan nodded, biting his lip and holding back his tears. He looked up.  
"What do we do?" He asked, his eyes now at Phil's feet. Phil shook his head.  
"I- I don't know. The sun looks like it's gonna set soon, though. We should figure out some sort of shelter." Dan laughed dryly. "Have you been watching survival shows?" Phil smiled, his eyes lighting up. "Possibly..." Dan shook his head, and thought about how lucky he was to not be alone.

As the sun started to set they realized there was some luggage scattered around the beach and forest, and quickly began constructing a makeshift shelter. Phil went to search for more while Dan was working with what they had already, and suddenly Phil yelled out Dan's name. Dan was immediately startled and slightly worried. He stopped what he was doing and tried to remember which direction Phil had went in. It didn't matter, though, because Phil returned with more luggage in hand.  
"You scared the shit out of me!" Dan yelled, Phil's eyes widened.   
"Whoops. Sorry, but I guess someone was planning to go camping in Australia." Phil began opening the suitcase to reveal a tent, a sleeping bag, and various survival items such as packaged food, knives, lighters, etc.   
"Holy shit." Dan spoke, his eyes scanning the luggage. They immediately began to pitch the tent, though it took much longer than planned due to the lack of instructions. 

After they'd both yelled profanities at least ten times each, they finally got it right. The sun was 80% down at this point. They brought their important items inside the tent, and flopped down on the ground of it with a sigh. Dan rolled over to look at Phil. Phil did the same, their fearful faces meeting eachother. "I'm scared." Dan whispered as if someone else was around to hear him say those two words. Phil's eyes moved around quickly. He reached out and moved a stray piece of Dan's hair, Dan felt like his heart was gonna implode.  
"Me too." 

"Right, looks like we have alfredo or beef stew." Phil said while glancing down at the packaged food. Dan sighed. "I have a feeling they'll be equally bad." Phil nodded, "Beef stew it is then." 

They ate in front of their makeshift fire after finding a couple of water bottles. Dan couldn't help but stare at the way Phil looked with the orange lights flickering across his face. He looked beautiful. Phil gave Dan a look.   
"Is there something on my face?" He asked innocently, Dan's head shaking rapidly as he felt his cheeks heating up. 'It's just the fire' he thought, though Phil had learned hours before what Dan looks like when blushing. They ate in silence and watched the stars. Dan tossed the now empty bag aside, and lied in the grass. Phil walked over to join him, making Dan's heart pick up it's pace once again.

They stayed on their backs, unlike the position they were in earlier in the tent.  
"Why were you going to Australia?" Phil asked suddenly. Dan bit his lip, contemplating how to word his answer.   
"Erm- for work. I have a radio show once a week and I was supposed to go to a conference there with other hosts." Phil nodded even though Dan couldn't see him.   
"That's cool."   
"I guess so. What about you?"  
Phil shifted uncomfortably.   
"Uh work I guess..." Dan was confused, but didn't press the subject anymore.   
Dan noticed his eyelids slowly getting heavier, and decided to go to 'bed'. He sat up and brushed the dirt and grass off of his clothes. He lightly poked Phil's shoulder. Phil looked up at Dan, his eyes twinkling in the light from the fire. "Erm, I think I'm gonna head to bed." Phil sat up as well. "Good idea." He spoke, his mouth forming a small smile. 

"I'm not taking the sleeping bag, Dan." Phil said for what felt to Dan like the millionth time. Dan sighed and threw his head on the hard floor of the tent. Phil giggled.  
"Well I'm not taking it either, Phil." Dan mocked his tone. Phil rolled his eyes.   
"Okay, what about a compromise? Neither of us get it." Dan cocked his head to the side. He shrugged and grabbed the two blankets they managed to find.   
He threw one at Phil who was placing the sleeping bag on the floor under their heads to act as a pillow. They quickly wrapped up in their blankets and faced each other again. Luckily the moon was mostly full and the fire was still going so they could somewhat see eachother. Neither of them said anything for a while, but their eyes remained locked. Phil scooted forward and made the gap between them nearly microscopic. Dan's thoughts were swirling around in his brain. Most of them were about their close proximity to eachother and him wondering if he should just go for it and cuddle the hell out of Phil. He decided against it because Phil was the only human around for god knows how many miles, and He didn't want to make things awkward. Dan simply bunched up some of his blanket and lightly held it to his chest.  
"Goodnight, Dan." He heard Phil whisper seconds before he got lost in a sea of dreams behind his eyelids.

Dan awoke to Phil's face even closer to his than he had remembered it was the night before. Phil was still wrapped up like a burrito (one that was slowly coming unraveled) in his blanket. Dan took advantage of the sunlight and watched Phil's peaceful face for a while, though he felt it was slightly creepy and wrong to do. Dan couldn't help it, Phil just looked so beautiful in that moment. He scooted on his back slightly and looked away as he noticed Phil beginning to wake up. Phil grunted and pulled himself out of the fuzzy cloth wrapped tightly around his body. Dan rolled back over.   
"Morning." He managed to grunt out figuring he owed Phil for the goodnight he said last night. Phil grunted like a caveman in an attempt to return Dan's words. Dan smiled and sat up.   
"Not a morning person, huh?"   
"Ughhhhmph." Dan rolled his eyes as Phil's fell closed again.   
"It's not like we're on a deserted island and need to look for other plane crash survivors or anything." Phil's eyes opened solely to give Dan a glare.   
"I want coffee." Dan scoffed,  
"I want coffee too, but I also want to live. Now get your ass up." Phil gave Dan a playfully offended look, and slowly made his way out of the tent. Dan followed suit.  
"We need to eat." Phil professed, his hands searching through the suitcase that contained all of their food. Dan shook his head.   
"Not hungry." Phil looked up inquisitively. "Doesn't matter," he continued looking for something breakfast worthy,  
"if we're walking miles through a forest we need to do it with food in our systems." Dan sighed, but nodded. Phil grabbed two bags labeled 'scrambled eggs' from the suitcase.   
"That looks disgusting." Dan spoke, the distaste in his tone was very evident. Phil nodded and bit his lip,   
"Better than nothing."   
Dan was right. The eggs were utterly disgusting and they pinched their noses in an attempt to block out the taste. 

They ate quickly, and stuffed two backpacks full of essential supplies when they were done. They finished packing at the same time.  
"So um..." Dan started. Phil raised his eyebrow expectingly.   
"Where should we go?" Phil shifted his weight to his right leg and had an unreadable expression on his face. He turned to face Dan once again.   
"I thought you would know." Dan chuckled, "We need google maps." Phil nodded in agreement.   
"Should we just go straight?" Phil asked, his voice unsure.   
"I tried that for a few years, it didn't work too well." Phil paused for a moment and snorted. "Me too," he mumbled. Dan was slightly taken aback by Phil's statement, his eyes widening a bit before he realized Phil had already begun their trek through the forest. Dan quickly picked up his pace and followed closely behind. 

They walked the first 30 minutes in total silence, each of them letting their thoughts float around in their heads. As they passed through more trees they noticed a noise that made them stop in their tracks. It was far in the distance, so it was mostly unintelligible. Phil turned around,   
"I can't tell if we should go towards it or away from it," he whispered. Dan pondered it for a moment.   
"Um, go towards it, I guess, but carefully?"   
Phil shrugged, and connected their hands again. Dan looked at their now joined hands in confusion, and back at Phil.  
"So we don't get separated." Phil's voice remained low, like he was scared of the culprit of the noise hearing him. Dan's mouth formed an 'o' shape, and he began walking at their previous pace. The walk went by slowly an uneventfully, no more noises to be heard. Dan decided they deserved a break. He stopped walking suddenly, making Phil's eyebrows furrow. Dan had already reached into his backpack and grabbed a water bottle at this point, and chugged a bit before breathing out "Need a break." Luckily for their current attire (black jeans and t shirts, of course.) it was almost spring meaning the temperature wasn't too high, even on an island. Phil smiled, "You're just as out of shape as me, huh?" Dan stuck his tongue out at Phil as he twisted the cap back onto the plastic bottle and studied Phil's face for a bit too long as he began to drink his water.

Dan decided to elongate their break by sitting down on the grassy ground. Phil sat right next to him. Dan turned to face him,   
"Do you think anyone else is out there?" Phil bit his lip, releasing it seconds later.   
"There's no way we're alone."   
Dan nodded and stood up, his hands immediately reaching out in order to help Phil stand up. Phil reached onto Dan's wrists, and pulled in order to get some leverage. He released Dan from his grip with a hint of hesitation and dusted his jeans off. He quickly grabbed Dan's hand again and continued walking without a second thought.   
Dan's heart fluttered  at the sudden contact, he wished he could roll his eyes at himself without Phil noticing. 

His thoughts veered of track soon when he heard the unmistakable sound of people talking. Their eyes widened simultaneously, and their feet came to a sudden stop. 'We aren't alone.' Dan was sure Phil was thinking the same thing. They shared a look and picked up their pace to be met with another beach beyond the trees, except this one  had a crashed plane and many survivors stood on it. Their mouths were gaping open. The multitude of people turned around to see Dan and Phil standing stunned and hand in hand. The boys kept up their fast pace until they were amongst the crowd. It was eerily silent, but Dan broke the silence quickly.   
"Erm, anyone seen a black suitcase full of black clothes?"   
Phil snorted next to him. A blonde woman that appeared to be around their age laughed as well.   
"Not that I know of, but there are suitcases scattered around that haven't even been opened yet." Dan nodded.   
"Oh, hi, by the way. I'm Dan. This is erm- Phil." He motioned towards the man that he was still holding hands with. He became aware of that fact as he looked at Phil, and unliked their hands. Phil did an awkward wave, and muttered a hello. The woman introduced herself as Candace, and whisked them away to an area full of makeshift tents and actual tents. "This is the good 'ol sleeping chambers." She motioned theatrically toward the tents, her hair flowing lightly in the wind, exposing a patch of her neck.   
"If you're like me and have no idea how to put together a shelter, you can go talk to Marty over there and he'll be happy to help."   
She pointed at a middle aged man stood next to a little girl.   
"Oh, we actually found a tent last night, so we're all good there." Phil said with an ever-growing smile. She returned the gesture and fluttered her eyelashes, making something shift in Dan's stomach. He locked all thoughts of jealousy he was experiencing in a box, and told himself it was just the dodgy scrambled eggs. 

They got along well with the rest of group, and found themselves chatting with them until sundown as they searched through suitcases. "PHIL!" Dan suddenly exclaimed even though he was right across from Phil. Phil's head snapped up immediately.  
"What?!" He exclaimed, a look of concern on his face.

"I found my fucking suitcase!" Dan smiled.   
Phil scoffed, "I thought you found a bag of snakes or something." He spoke whilst scooting towards Dan.   
"Anything good in there?" He spoke next to Dan's ear, sending shivers down his spine. "Erm, just clothes and bathroom stuff." Dan managed to stutter out, his eyes following Phil's hand as he grasped at the unmistakable bottle of lube. Dan hid his reddening face in his hands as Phil chuckled.   
"Planning to get lucky in Australia?" Dan looked up from his hands, wishing the moment would come to an end.   
"I- you never know..." Phil smiled and put the bottle back, shaking his head slightly. Dan shifted uncomfortably.   
"I'm gonna go put this in our tent..." He zipped the suitcase back up and walked toward the row of shelters. An older woman stopped him as he was zipping their tent up and leaving. "I'm glad you two have each other." Dan cocked head slightly, wondering what she was getting at. He felt too awkward to explain that it wasn't like that.  
"Oh, um, thanks. I am too." She smiled and patted him on the shoulder as he walked back to Phil. 

"What was that about?" He asked, his eyebrows raisin as he stared at Dan.   
"Oh, nothing." He shrugged, continuing the search. Phil brushed it off as well, figuring there were more important things to worry about.   
"I don't think it's here." Phil stated, referring to his suitcase. Dan nodded and bit his lip, "That's alright, we can look for it tomorrow, and you can wear some of my stuff." Dan smiled. 

"Got any pajama pants in there?" Phil asked, his stomach full of more packaged camping food. Dan shook his head, "I usually just wear boxers to bed..." Phil raised his eyebrows, "Then why the hell did you sleep in skinny jeans last night?" Dan blushed slightly.   
"Figured it was a bit too early to expose my ass to you." He shrugged, and Phil giggled.  
"Well, in that case," Phil took his Jeans off suddenly, exposing his bright green boxers and leaving Dan's mouth agape in shock. Dan recovered as quickly as possible, and struggled out of his skin tight jeans as well. He folded them up messily and placed them in the corner or the tent next to Phil's. He stripped off his plain gray t-shirt, and replaced it with one covered in shiba inus. Phil chuckled at the print, and did the same with a star wars printed one. Dan usually didn't even wear a shirt to bed, but didn't think twice about covering up. He immediately pulled himself under the covers and watched the sliver of exposed skin on Phil's back as he pulled Dan's shirt on. Part of him hoped Phil wouldn't find his suitcase so Dan could see him in his clothes all of the time. 'Is that creepy?' Dan thought, but brushed it off. 

He felt warmth surrounding the front of his body as Phil cuddled in next to him. Their skin wasn't touching, but Phil changed that quickly by placing his hand on Dan's arm that was exposed due to him only wrapping his middle in the blanket. His fingers moved around slowly and delicately like he was telling a story using only his finger and Dan's skin. Dan dragged his body forward and nuzzled his head into Phil's blanket-clad chest.   
"You're warm." Dan mumbled into the fabric, earning a quiet laugh and an arm pulling him closer. The contact and warmth made Dan's worries melt away momentarily and pulled him into a deep sleep. 

Phil awoke first, his mind instantly focusing in on the boy currently wrapped up in his arms. He slowly blinked his eyes open to reveal Dan even closer than they had begun with. His chin was resting atop of the younger man's hair, and both of his arms were wrapped around him. Dan's left arm was lazily placed on top of Phil's torso, a fact that Phil was becoming hyperaware of. Dan stirred lightly, but didn't wake up fully. Phil let his eyes close once again, but couldn't fall asleep due to the sound of chatter erupting from the other survivors. He woke up again as he heard a small whine being released from Dan's lips as he pulled away from Phil's just in order to make eye contact. His eyes were squinted slightly, and his hair was a mess. Phil felt an extreme urge to kiss him, but tucked the thought away as soon as it appeared.

"Morning, sleepyhead." He spoke quietly, his hand stroking Dan's arm subconsciously. Dan grunted again as Phil pulled away and began to unravel himself. He pulled Phil back toward him.   
"Don't leave, you're comfy." Dan mumbled, the words nearly unintelligible. Phil chuckled, and lightly played with Dan's hair, hoping it wasn't too intimate of a gesture.   
"C'mon, we've got a suitcase to look for."  
"Ughhhhhhh." Phil pulled away despite Dan's continuous efforts to get him to stay.  
He scanned Dan's suitcase and decided on a plain black pair of shorts and another one of Dan's t-shirts. He felt Dan's gaze burning into him, making his cheeks flush. He turned his head around quickly.   
"Take a picture, it'll last longer." He smirked and pulled the clothes on. Dan bit his lip and kept staring.  
"Would if I could, Philly."   
Phil rolled his eyes and allowed his glance to veer toward Dan's body as pulled his own clothes on. 

"Is that a romper?" Phil asked, his brows furrowed in surprise.   
"It's called fashion, Phil." Dan said in an exaggerative snooty voice, and buttoned it up.  
Phil rolled his eyes playfully but smiled as Dan walked (or crouched, rather) ahead of him and out of the tent. 

They spent all of the afternoon searching for Phil's luggage, but still couldn't find it. They had managed to gather multiple miniature bottles of alcohol, so it wasn't a total loss. They stuffed them in Dan's suitcase, and kept looking.   
"Y'know, we're on a deserted island together but I still barely know anything about you." Dan stated, his feet walking forwards through the forest.   
Phil nodded, "What do you want to know?"   
Dan thought about it for a moment.   
"Uh, what do you do for work?"   
Phil cracked his knuckles nervously.   
"I make youtube videos. I was going to Australia for a convention type thing." Dan nodded, "You must be pretty popular then."   
Phil shrugged.   
"I don't really think of it like that. It just feels like having 4 million friends, I guess." Dan choked on his spit.   
"4 million?!?!" He exclaimed, the words drawing out. Phil chuckled,   
"Hey, you're a radio host, I'm sure you've got quite a few fans too."   
"Well, sure, but not 4 fucking million." Dan mumbled, his shoes crunching over a bunch of sticks on the ground.   
"What about you? I don't even know your full name." Phil retaliated and pointed a finger at dan accusingly.   
"Daniel James Howell, you dork. What's yours?"   
"Philip Michael Lester. Only one l though."   
Dan laughed, "Okay Philip with one l, how old are you?"   
The conversation continued from there as they looked around the forest, each of them learning random facts about eachother. Phil's stomach rumbled loudly and suddenly, making Dan look up in surprise.   
"...Maybe we should head back." 

Phil agreed with a small nod, and grabbed Dan's hand as they walked back to the beach. Dan's mind went blank again as butterflies erupted in his stomach. 'He's probably just scared of us getting separated' he thought, but he realized that even if it was for that reason, Phil obviously cared about him. The thought of that made him feel slightly dizzy. 

"Phil?" He spoke impulsively.   
"Hmm?" Phil's gaze remained ahead, but his hand squeezed Dan's.   
"I'm really glad I have you." He stated quietly.   
"Me too, Dan." A smile lit up Phil's face, and Dan quickly returned the gesture. 

They came back to everyone standing around the plane, or what used to be the plane.   
Dan made sure his grip on Phil's hand remained as they made their way over.   
"What's going on?" Phil whispered to Candace.   
"Max knows a bit about planes, so he's trying to fix the radio thingy so we can send an SOS message."   
"So the captain..." Candace pursed her lips tightly.   
"Haven't seen him. It's possible that he's out there somewhere like you and Phil were, but it's really not that likely." Phil nodded, his hand squeezing Dan's. A man whom Dan and Phil assumed was 'Max' stepped out of the plane.   
"Well," he spoke loudly in a southern american accent and rubbed his hands together, "it's gonna be a while. I'm not sure if I can get it goin' or not, but I'll try my hardest."   
He disappeared back into the plane as worried chatter erupted throughout the now scattering group. Dan gave Phil a worried look, to which Phil responded with by disconnecting their fingers, and wrapping an arm around his waist.   
They remained cuddled together until they got to the tent. 

"After you," Phil motioned to the opened entrance.

Dan crouched inside and immediately sat down next to their small collection of stuff and grabbed two bags of  'alfredo in a bag'   
while Phil boiled some water over the community fire.

As they finished up the food they realized everyone was sitting together on the beach and eating, so they decided to go against their introvertive instincts in order to join them.   
Each of them mumbled a 'hey' and smiled as they sat down and ate. They soon realized that mostly everyone was talking about their kids and where they live, so they semi-unintentionally blocked out the noise and started to talk to each other. 

Phil had just finished a sentence about penguins as Dan suggested that they head back to their tent. Phil nodded, leaving the group with Dan's hand in his. 

"It's so pretty." Dan stated whilst looking up at the sunset behind the ocean. The yellows and oranges blended together sharply and softly at the same time. It was truly windows stock screensaver worthy. Phil smiled, his thumb rubbing lightly on the back of Dan's hand.   
"Still not as pretty as you." Dan took his lip between his teeth and snapped his head down to look at Phil. 

"You absolute dork." Dan spoke with evident happiness in his voice. Phil's smile was wide and beautiful as he brushed a stray curl off of Dan's forehead. Dan looked at Phil adoringly and watched intently as Phil's hand brushed his hair away and gently stroked his thumb against Dan's cheek as he placed his arm back at his side. Dan turned them around and walked back to their tent. 

"Right, tequila or vodka?" Dan asked once they were inside and tucked away from everyone.  
Phil scrunched his face up. Dan was (thankfully) able to see him due to the fire and the remaining sunlight.   
"Fuck, tequila I guess. Do we have anything to chase it with?" He asked hopefully, the thought of straight tequila nearly making him gag.   
Dan searched in their pile of food for a moment.   
"Erm... Peanuts?"   
Phil shrugged, "Better than nothing."   
Dan popped open the mini bottle and opened the small bag of peanuts. He went first by downing a third of the bottle, the alcohol burning his throat. He rushed to grab a handful of peanuts to rid himself of the taste left behind. Phil watched intently with a slight look of dread on his face. 

"You're up, Philly." Dan announced when he finished the peanuts. He scooted directly in front of Phil and place the peanuts and tequila in the small space between them. Phil took a swig after a bit of hesitation, and grabbed the peanuts without a second thought.   
"Blegh," he mumbled. Dan shrugged and finished off the bottle without a chaser. Phil's eyebrows raised questioningly as Dan grabbed another bottle.   
"Last one, I promise. I really don't want a hangover tomorrow." Dan placed it between them again as he spoke. He motioned toward the items, "You first this time, mate." Phil rolled his eyes. 

"Don't 'mate' me." Dan simply responded by shoving the tequila closer to Phil. 

This time Phil drank at least half of the bottle. He winced while he put the bottle down and grabbed the peanuts again. Dan clapped a few times, "That was brave, Lester. I'm proud."   
Phil chuckled.   
"I guess I went back to my uni days."   
'Mm' Dan muttered as he undid the cap once again.   
"I'm a dropout, so cheers to that." Dan downed the rest of it and gently tossed the empty bottle in the corner. Phil laughed quietly and smiled at the ground. 

"What now?" Dan asked after a stretch of silence. Phil thought for a moment.   
"Uh... Sleep?" Dan rolled his eyes dramatically.   
"Jesus, Phil, are you 50?" Phil sighed, the fabric of the tent crinkling as he repositioned.  
"Listen, all I usually do is watch tv, go on the internet, and sleep." Dan nodded.   
"Okay, same." Dan reached toward the edge of his suitcase in order to pull it forward.   
He tossed one of many plain black t shirts at Phil, and a pair of boxers. They dressed in unison, their backs to each other the whole time. Instead of wrapping their blankets around themselves like they had done the nights before, Phil laid both of them on the floor. Dan was about to ask what Phil was doing, mostly because there was barely enough light to see what was happening, but the words got caught in his throat when Phil entered their makeshift bed by draping half of the top blanket on himself. Dan did the same and faced Phil. 

"You're cute." Phil hid his face in his hands at Dan's sudden confession. Dan wasn't having it, though, and pulled Phil's hands away.  
"Mmph, stop." Phil leaned forward and spoke the words into Dan's clothed chest. Dan laughed loudly and loosely wrapped an arm around Phil even though he was pulling away slightly in order to look at him. Phil cupped Dan's cheek gently and hesitated before kissing Dan's forehead, his lips lingering for a moment. 

"Mmph," dan mumbled, his head resting in the crook of Phil's neck. Phil shuddered as Dan exhaled a warm puff of breath against his skin, the action giving him chills. Dan noticed and pulled away for a second, but only to bring his lips to Phil's neck. Phil squirmed slightly as Dan began sucking and gently biting his warm skin. His hands roamed Phil's body slowly as he continued on his neck. He pushed Phil on his back and straddled him, leaning down in the process to keep going. Phil sat up soon after with Dan's lips right above his collarbone. Dan hit a particularly sensitive spot, causing Phil to grab Dan's hips and moan out  
"Daaaan" quietly. 

Dan worked back up to Phil's jaw with his hands under Phil's shirt.   
He kept kissing along Phil's jaw and decided to go for his lips. He pulled away and looked from Phil's eyes down to his lips. He was about to ask him if it was okay, but Phil made the move and tentatively kissed Dan. It started out slow and gentle but it wasn't nearly enough for the problems growing in each of their boxers.   
Phil bucked up as he introduced his tongue into the mix. Dan felt completely and utterly blissed out as he whimpered and ground into Phil's crotch. Dan pulled away and stared into Phil's dilated pupils. 

"Can I touch you?" He asked, Phil's eyebrows raised at the question.   
"If you don't I'm definitely gonna have to go behind a tree or something and have a wank."   
Dan giggled, his hands reaching to take off his shirt. He was too buzzed to feel self conscious when Phil moved his eyes up and down his body. 

"God, you're so fucking beautiful." Phil spoke with his eyes widened in lust. Dan responded by grinding down on Phil once again. Phil moaned quietly and took his shirt off. He fell limp after Dan pushed him down and began kissing down his chest. He nosed the waistband of Phil's boxers, making Phil whine from the warm breath that seeped through the fabric.   
"Dan, fuck," he was short of breath, but who wouldn't be? 

Dan traced his thumb along the obvious outline of Phil's cock. Phil's breath hitched, about to beg for more but Dan started pulling his boxers down painfully slowly. Dan couldn't help but grind downwards when Phil's cock sprung free. It was bigger than he had ever taken before. He began by licking the head gently and repeatedly. Phil groaned loudly with his hands aching to push Dan down on him.  
Dan picked up the pace by licking all the way up Phil's shaft. He brought his hand to the base of Phil's cock and started stroking slowly. Phil whimpered more and more. Dan wrapped his lips around Phil and quickly began sucking, his hand going up and down on the part he couldn't quite reach. Phil placed his hands in Dan's hair, but resisted pushing him up and down. He played with Dan's hair gently.   
"Mmph, you feel- fuck, so good," Phil's words were slurred in a mixture of lust and the effects from the tequila. 

Dan palmed himself through his boxers with his free hand, the sounds Phil was making turning him on even more.   
"Close" he moaned out again and winced when Dan took his mouth off of him.   
Dan grabbed the lube from his suitcase and poured a generous amount on his hand. He took his boxers off with his free hand and a little help from Phil. He straddled Phil once again, and they both moaned when their dicks touched. 

Dan brought his hand to each of their cocks and lubed them up thoroughly. Phil placed Dan's arms on his neck, allowing Dan to kiss him as Phil jerked them off. Dan whined and moaned loudly into Phil's mouth, his body grinding against Phil's with every movement.   
Phil knew Dan was close when he let out a string of ah's and let himself melt into Phil's touch. Dan released before Phil as a result of his cock being ignored for so long. The strings of white covered his chest along with Phil's. Phil stroked them through the rest of Dan's orgasm and came quickly. 

Dan rolled over and panted.  
"Maybe we should go wash off." Dan giggled at Phil's sudden statement. They each pulled their boxers back on incase anyone was awake, and walked to the water. Luckily the beach was deserted and there was no noise to be heard. They both stripped down and washed themselves off in the salty water. They finished up quickly and sprinted back to their tent with boxers in hand. They tracked sand in, but couldn't bring themselves to care. 

 

"Shit." Dan grunted, his half open eyes focused on the naked man he was currently cuddling with. He shook him awake.   
"Phil!" Phil sighed, "What?" Dan's face dropped as he remembered the events taken place the night before.   
"We fucked last night."   
Phil separated his body from Dan's.  
"Indeed we did." He spoke, his hands carding through Dan's hair gently.  
Dan's expression was unreadable to Phil.   
"D'you regret it?" His voice was laced with worry.

Dan shook his head, "I- no. I just, fuck- I don't know, Phil." He ran a hand through his hair out of frustration. Phil kept thinking about how his hand was gripping that head of hair last night. 

His response left Phil even more confused.   
"Hey, it's gonna be okay, angel. I'm not leaving your side."   
Dan nodded and left hastily after throwing clothes on. Phil followed behind at a slow pace in case Dan needed space. It felt foreign to be behind Dan rather than next to him holding his hand. He realized Dan was walking up to the crowd around the plane. Max came out right on queue.   
"I got it goin' and I created an SOS message. If anyone flys remotely close to this island they'll pick it up." 

The crowd cheered, but Dan quietly walked away from the plane and into the forest. Candace walked up to Phil just as he was about to follow after him. She had a bright smile on her face that Phil tried his hardest to return.   
"Hey, Phil! Holly found your suitcase!" She exclaimed, the sound of her voice making Phil's ears ring. Maybe that was just the headache.   
"Really?! Thank you so much!" She smiled in return and led him to his suitcase. 

The afternoon went by painfully slowly for Phil. He spent it by organizing their tent and relentlessly worrying about Dan. When the sun had lowered slightly and Phil had inferred that it was nearly 4 pm he decided he would give it another 30 minutes or so until he searched for Dan.   
The tent had opened shortly after, revealing a slightly sunburnt Dan. He sighed and flopped down onto the blanket.

"I was worried about you." Phil stated, his heart slowly beginning to slow down to it's usual pace. Dan flipped onto his side to face Phil. "I'm sorry, I didn't go far. Just needed space, I guess." Phil nodded, he felt the urge to lay down next to Dan and hug him close, but he resisted due to Dan's previous statement.  
"Have you eaten anything?" Dan shook his head. Phil sprung up quickly and grabbed two bags of 'beef stew'. 

"I'll be right back." Dan managed a small smile as Phil left. He was aching to touch Phil again. He couldn't believe how amazing it felt to kiss him, it was magical and incredibly terrifying at the same time. He loved the way Phil looked at him like he was the most beautiful being in the world, but he was scared. He was scared of ruining everything. He was scared of Phil not liking him anymore when they got back to London. He felt like it was all unrealistic, hell, he'd only met Phil a few days ago. How did they fit each other so perfectly? What are the odds? His mind kept racing until Phil entered the tent with their food.

They ate in an awkward tension-filled silence. Phil tried to crack jokes every now and then but Dan could barely muster up a smile.   
Phil set their trash aside and grabbed Dan's hands. 

"Dan, I could not care less about how long we've known each other. I like you a lot and I'm here for you if you want to talk, okay?"   
Dan nodded, his eyes beginning to water.   
"I don't deserve you." Phil pulled him into a hug. "You deserve everything, love." Phil spoke before placing a kiss on the top of Dan's head.   
Dan melted into the embrace, and they remained in the position for a while.   
They swiftly moved apart when they heard yelling outside of their tent. It seemed like civil yet excited yelling, so they left their tent. They soon realized a plane was flying lower and lower over the island. Everyone was standing around the plane like a swarm of bees, and when Dan and Phil got closer they heard the sounds of someone communicating over the radio. 

"Alright, we'll be back tomorrow with helicopters for all of you. You're gonna be okay, just hang on it for a little while longer." Cheers and happy sobs erupted from the group as Max talked back to the man on the radio.   
Phil hugged Dan extremely tight and they both let a couple tears fall onto each other.  
"We're getting out of here," Dan spoke into Phil's shoulder.   
"Yes we are." Phil had a wide grin on his face and neither of them could bring themselves to care if the people around them were witnessing their embrace or not. 

Being the loners that they are, they ended up sitting cross legged face to face on an empty stretch of the beach.  
"I really don't want this to end when we go home." Dan bit his lip after he spoke the words to contain the tears threatening to fall out of his eyes. Phil hooked his finger under Dan's chin and lifted gently.  
"Daniel James Howell, if you think I will ever get over you then you're dead wrong." Dan let a single tear fall, but it was quickly swiped away by Phil's thumb. He let his hand fall back onto his lap and shifted in the sand.   
"We'll get to have a proper date!" Phil exclaimed loudly, producing a laugh and another tear from Dan. He rested his hand on Phil's knee and lightly moved his thumb around the bare skin.  
"What would our first date be?" Dan asked curiously, his eyes remained watering.  
Phil smiled and thought about his answer.  
"Anime and pizza?" Dan giggled and nodded profusely. 

They cuddled on beach for a while, neither of them caring about the impending sunburns they would have. Dan hummed in content as he snuggled farther into Phil's chest. Neither of them moved until Dan mumbled something about needing to pee. Phil drastically loosened his grip on Dan and watched him walk into the forest. Phil sat up slowly and gazed at the now darkening sky. He heard Dan's bare feet padding through the sand and turned around to look at him. "Hey," Dan whispered and sat next to Phil. 

"Sun's gonna set soon." Phil stated, his eyes grazing over the horizon. Dan nodded and squinted at the sunlight.   
"My viewers are gonna love you." Phil looked over at Dan and smiled as he spoke. Dan returned the smile.   
"You want me on your channel?" Dan cocked his head and his focus remained on Phil.  
"Of course. But only if you want to be."   
Dan smiled again, "I'd love to be."  
Dan rested his head on Phil's shoulder and watched the sunset. Everything felt perfect.  
They talked about what they would do on Phil's channel, and finally decided on a q&a.   
Dan was somewhat scared of what Phil's fans would think of him, but he knew it'd be alright in the end.

"It's gonna be weird being away from you when we get back." Phil nodded, "I know, but I'm sure we'll be together all the time." He spoke while picking at a loose thread on his shorts.  
"I'm gonna miss seeing you in my clothes." Dan confessed, his lips brushed Phil's shoulder as he spoke. Phil chuckled. "I wanna see you in mine," he mumbled. Dan scoffed, "I can't handle that much color."

Dan pulled his head off of Phil's shoulder and got a drink of water from the bottle they were sharing. "Mm," he mumbled as he drank, implying that he had something to say,   
"Why did you roll your eyes at me? When I first got on the plan, I mean."   
Phil shifted and took a drink of water for himself. 

"Erm, I guess I just thought you were like a cocky rich guy..." Dan's mouth gaped open in shock as he playfully smacked Phil in the shoulder. 

"You're judgmental, Lester."  
Phil shrugged, "I thought you were cute, though." Dan smiled and placed his head back on Phil's shoulder.

Dan fell asleep when he was cuddled next to Phil while they stargazed. The lack of street lights made the sky look incredibly beautiful, and the stars seemed to shine brighter than they'd ever seen before. It was definitely a change from bright and polluted London.  
They lied down at one point, hence Dan's ability to fall asleep. Phil felt blissed out and comfortable to the point that he couldn't help but let Dan enjoy his peaceful slumber rather than waking him to go to the tent. He allowed his eyes to close and focused on the warmth Dan provided him, along with his steady breathing. He felt happy, but that feeling was accompanied by a rapidly growing warmth in his chest that enveloped him every time he so much as thought about Dan. He knew it was too early to be love, though he couldn't deny that he had grown incredibly fond of Dan. He couldn't help it, it was as if Dan had crafted strings of silk that delicately wrapped around Phil's heart. He felt the strings tug whenever Dan smiled or whenever he looked at Phil. He was in too deep.

Hours later they both opened their blurry eyes to be met with the rising sun, and obviously went back to their tent in order to fall asleep again. Their limbs were heavy and limp as they drug themselves toward the tent. Neither of them said a word as they lied down and melted into one another like they'd done many times already. The sunlight still flooded their vision, meaning that neither of them managed to fall asleep for long. It only took a few minutes before they heard the sounds of tents rustling open and people talking around the island. 

Phil sighed and ran his hand through Dan's hair. Dan's eyes opened slowly and remained in a squint as he looked up lovingly at Phil.   
"Morning, sunshine." Phil spoke the words softly with a smile growing on his face. That seems to happen a lot when he was around Dan. Dan muttered a greeting and forced himself away from Phil and into an upright position. 

The boys groggily dug through their suitcases and pulled on t shirts and shorts. Dan leaned back on the palms of his hands and watched as Phil slowly pulled himself together.   
"You're too pretty."   
Dan commented suddenly and quietly, his eyes stuck on Phil. Phil smiled and shook his head before scooting over to Dan and placing a kiss on his forehead. The kiss felt delicate and soft against Dan's skin. Dan's eyes widened and he remained staring at Phil. Phil giggled and exited the tent with Dan following close behind. 

"The lovebirds finally got up!" Candace announced with an obnoxiously wide smile on her face. The boys averted their gazes coyly to avoid the newfound attention. Candace chuckled and continued her walk to god knows where. Dan and Phil barely had time to exchange confused looks before Max yelled something about everyone gathering around, so that's exactly what they did. 

"Alrighty, I did the math and they should be here in about 4 hours. That would give 'em enough time to gather enough helicopters and pilots as well as alert the media and plane comp'ny that we're here."   
His near redneck accent was somewhat hard to decipher, but everyone seemed to get the message. 

"Four hoursssss," Dan groaned out. Phil nodded and sighed. His arm slung over Dan's shoulders and they watched as everyone scattered once again. Dan turned his head to face the older man.   
"What's gonna happen? Like, when we get home." Phil bit his lip at Dan's sudden question.   
"Erm, I dunno. News is gonna try to harass us, I assume." Phil stated with a shrug. Dan nodded and gazed beyond the ocean. The water was still and calm, it relaxed Him without a doubt. His eyes were watering but he tried to keep his focus on the horizon as well as the gentle touch on his shoulder.

"Fuck off, you cheater!" Dan exclaimed over an intense game of go fish. Phil clutched his side in pain from his ongoing burst of laughter.   
Dan prodded Phil's shoulder accusingly.  
"There's no way you could just win 5 fucking games in a row without cheating!" The man's raised his loud and slightly angry voice, attracting attention and glares from others. They were an hour and a half into their game, not that either of them was counting. They were caught up in the moment and in each other's smiles. Phil finally caught his breath after a few long pants.

"I told you I was the board game master. You shouldn't have doubted me, Howell."   
He scoffed dramatically and shoved Phil, sending him into another fit of laughter.  
Eventually they calmed down and Dan challenged Phil to a sand castle contest.  
"How does that even work?" Phil questioned, his head turned and eyebrows raised inquisitively.  
"Whoever builds the biggest castle is the winner." Dan smirked cockily. After a bit of discussion about the rules they finally began building. It was hard because of their lack of tools, but they ended up with some pretty impressive sand castles in the end. They had agreed on an hour for their time limit, and it approached quickly.   
"Mine's bigger." Dan smirked as he spoke the words and wiggled his eyebrows at Phil.  
"Bigger isn't always better." Phil retorted and stuck his tongue out.   
Dan rolled his eyes at the not-so subtle innuendo. 

"Tie?" Phil asked with hopeful eyes.   
Dan couldn't resist, and gave in with a hesitant nod. Phil pumped his fists in the air victoriously and shouted "yes!"   
Dan shook his head and shoved Phil into the sand.

The crowd (Dan and Phil included) grew increasingly restless as Max's estimated arrival time for the helicopters grew closer and closer.   
The boys sat under a palm true with water bottles in tow and the beach within their line of vision. Dan drummed his fingers against his thigh subconsciously and stared at the beach.  
Their time on the beach passed slowly yet quickly. It felt unreal, like a dream. Phil had noticed Dan zoning out on several occasions, but he couldn't blame him. There wasn't much to do other than count the seconds and wonder if you're dead and in the afterlife or not.   
Not to mention the fact that it had been a few hours and the survivors were starting to panic.   
Their suitcases were lying down next to them so they could easily grab them when the helicopters came. At this point everyone on the island had at least a slight sunburn due to the lack of shade. The constant gloomy weather in London that led to their very little sun exposure didn't help much either.

"Did you hear that?" Dan asked suddenly and whipped his head to face Phil. His eyes widened in hopes of it being a helicopter.  
Phil raised his eyebrows,  
"Are you talking about the wind?" Dan pursed his lips and muttered "Oh." A small smile crept onto Phil's face at Dan's impatience.

"What do you wanna eat when we get back?"  
Phil asked suddenly, breaking the ongoing silence. Dan stilled for a moment.  
"Literally anything. Sushi, maybe?"  
Phil hummed a drawn out "mmmmm" at the thought of having sushi again.   
"We'll get to have a real shower again!"   
Dan exclaimed, his eyes widened dramatically.  
Phil waggled his eyebrows.   
"We?" Dan blushed and rolled his eyes,  
"You know what I meant," he spoke softly, embarrassment overtaking him.  
Phil clearly got a kick out of making Dan flustered, and made a mental note to do it more often. 

"GUYS!" A voice shrieked out of nowhere, making Dan and Phil jump at the same time.   
They quickly stood up and walked toward the voice slowly until they realized people were crowded on the beach staring above the ocean. They quickly realized there was at least 10 helicopters coming towards them, and turned their heads towards each other simultaneously with their faces contorted in shock.   
They remained with their feet planted into the sand until the helicopters got closer and string ladders were released for people to climb up into them. They rushed to their luggage, but Dan stopped before Phil could reach for his suitcase. He brought his hand to Phil's face and leaned in. He kissed him softly, it only lasted for a few seconds considering their circumstances, but was nice nonetheless. Both of them let out a few tears of joy as they walked to the closest helicopter with their luggage in tow. Phil went first and thanked Dan as he took their suitcases and handed them to him when he reached the top of the ladder.  
——————  
"Dan, are you gonna sue the airline company?!"   
"Is phan real???"   
"What happened on the island?!"   
Dan reached for Phil's shaky hand on a whim which most likely made the situation worse, but it was worth it to remind Phil that he was there for him. The questions came from a swarm of relentless reporters outside the fence of the helicopter pad. They'd rode in a total of 3 helicopters to finally get to London. They were accompanied by the pilot, of course, and two other survivors of the crash that Dan and Phil didn't recognize, but they were thankful for the company. A black car drove up to the gate and rolled open the passenger seat window to reveal a man in all black waving them over. The complied silently and tossed their items in the trunk. Phil sat in the middle and leaned close to Dan, their arms and legs touching. They were exhausted, sunburnt, and emotional. It took them a while to realize that they had no idea where the man driving was taking them.

It only took about 5 minutes to drive to their mystery destination. The drive was eerily silent, most likely because they were all too tired and in shock to even begin to care about talking.   
The man pulled up to a tall white building adorned with many windows across every wall.   
They seemed to be tinted, the people inside could see them, but they couldn't see anyone or anything that was inside.   
Phil shut his eyes tightly and rubbed his hands on his face harshly before following Dan's lead.   
His eyes remained glued to the back of Dan's head until they made it through the doors. He looked around at the expensive decor furnishing the lobby. There was a black counter against a wall straight ahead of them, and they all walked up to it. A woman with a sleek black ponytail and a name tag with the name "Marlene" written in rose gold letters greeted them. 

"Hello, how can I assist you today?" She asked with a smile on her face. She definitely didn't know who they were.   
Dan sighed softly, "We were on plane 207."  
He explained, his fingers now fidgeting with a thread on his shorts. Her eyes widened,  
"Oh, of course. Um, follow me, please."   
She spoke with a hint of nerves in her voice. The two people trailed behind Dan and Phil, who of course remained attached at the hip. The woman led them up an elevator to the 4th floor. 

She continued down a hallway and eventually opened a door with a plaque next to it labeled 'Steve Patel, head of affairs.'  
Marlene held the door open and closed it as soon as they were inside. Dan and Phil soon realized that the two other people weren't with them anymore. It was strange, but they figured they were being brought to a different room.   
Their eyes bounced upwards at the same time to be met with a middle aged businessman sat in a chair. The chair was placed alongside 5 others at a round glass table. It was to be expected from the evident modern decor throughout the building.   
The man stood up and reached to shake their hands. The boys reluctantly accepted his handshakes. 

"Steve Patel," he introduced himself, though it didn't clear anything up for anyone.   
Phil fought back the urge to scoff and roll his eyes. "Um, where the hell are we? And who are you?" Phil asked, the lack of food and proper showers starting to aggravate him, especially because his flat was most likely less than an hour away. Steve's posture straightened as he pursed his lips. "Right, you must be confused. Have a seat and I'll explain." They sat directly across from Steve. 

"Right, so I'm a lawyer who handle all kinds of traumatic affairs that have to do with businesses. You both went through a very traumatic experience, and I'm here to help you with the media, the flight company, etcetera." They nodded slowly at the words.   
Dan was the first to speak up.  
"Okay, so can we do all that after me and Phil shower and eat some actual food?"   
His tone came off as slightly condescending. Phil knew it was a result of his exhaustion and the trauma they'd gone through in the past few days, and luckily Steve was quite understanding as well.

"Of course," Steve spoke, "but it's important that you deserve as much compensation from the company as you can get. Not only that, you both have high social statuses and reporters will constantly be following around. Here's my card." 

He grabbed a single business card out of his pocket and slid it across the table, it was accompanied by two iphones and two debit cards. "We've already been in contact with your banks and phone companies, they were very understanding and provided you both with new phones and new cards." Dan and Phil nodded and mumbled a thanks, though they had no idea how he knew exactly which credit cards and phones they had.

"I look forward to working with you."   
With those final words from Steve, Dan and Phil took it as their queue to leave. They grabbed the items off the table and slid them into their respective pockets.  
They got out of the room as soon as possible, and speed walked to the elevator. Dan banged his head a bit too hard against the wall of the elevator as the doors shut, finally leaving them alone for a minute. He turned to Phil with fear in his eyes. He looked small and vulnerable, his tough facade crumbling to pieces. He tried to keep it together, he really did. 

"I hate this, Phil." His eyes watered and he nearly choked on the words. Phil pulled him into a hug, not caring that the elevator doors were going to open again soon.   
"I do too." He spoke into Dan's hair before placing a gentle kiss on the messy mop of curls.  
The sound of dinging rung through their ears, forcing them to separate. Dan hated that even more.

"My flat or yours?" The words went straight through Dan's ears. Phil's face was struck with a worried expression as he poked Dan's side with his index finger. Dan shook his head as if he was waking up.

"Uh, yours is probably cleaner." Phil nodded and relayed his address to the driver as they got inside the car. Phil had a gut feeling that Dan doesn't need to be alone right now, so he went with it, thankfully Dan didn't protest and ask to go to his flat alone Silence enveloped them for several minutes. It was clear that they were far away from Phil's flat. Phil fidgeted with his hands and asked Dan if he wanted to eat or shower first. 

"Mm, we could order something and shower while we wait." Phil raised his eyebrows,   
"Are you suggesting we shower together again, Howell?" Dan rolled his eyes, not even blushing. 

"Phil, there's sand, dirt, and bug bites in every crevice of my body. I'm not really down for shower bum sex today." Phil couldn't help but giggle and put his face in his hands as a reaction Dan's blatant crudeness. The driver somehow stayed still without so much as a glance in their direction. He must've heard a lot worse before.   
——————  
Phil's flat was surprisingly tame, Dan found out after watched Phil retrieve a spare key from the apartment office. The walls were painted a grayish white color and had a few nerdy posters and paintings scattered around on them. It was all very open and big, Dan had expected something less minimal, but it balanced Phil's bright personality out pretty well. 

They immediately dropped their suitcases on the floor, and Phil showed Dan to his guest bathroom. "Towels are in here," he pointed to a cabinet, "and I'll go grab you some clothes to borrow."   
Dan nodded and stripped his shoes and socks off while he waited. Phil returned with a hoodie, boxer, and pajama pants in his hands. He sat the clothes on the empty counter beside the sink. "Right, I'm gonna call my mum real quick then I'll order us a shit ton of sushi and shower. There should be enough hot water so take as long as you need, and shout if you need anything." Dan smiled,  
"Thanks, Dad." He muttered jokingly and was met with an eyeroll from Phil as he shut the bathroom door on his way out.

They both showered for extended periods of time, the feeling of finally being clean was amazing, they definitely hadn't realized how much they had taken hot showers for granted until that moment. Dan stepped out of the steamy shower a few minutes before Phil finished his. His tanned skin was beginning to turn red from the hot water, and the mirror was incredible foggy.   
He wiped a large portion of the moisture off in order to gaze into the mirror for the first time in days. He looked tired, noticeably so. He'd lost some weight from the lack of nutrition, but it wasn't too major. He dried his hair and body with an incredibly fluffy towel before pulling on Phil's clothes. He stepped out of the bathroom just as he heard Phil's shower stop running. 

Phil's pajama pants and hoodie were way more colorful than Dan was used to, but they were comfy, and they smelled like Phil.   
He sat on one of the sofas in Phil's lounge and started installing all of his previous apps on his new phone. "Thank god for icloud," he mumbled to himself.

Phil came in minutes after Dan did and immediately sat next to him. Phil felt the not so foreign feeling of an urge to touch Dan, so he did just that by wrapping his arm around Dan's waist. A small hum of content escaped Dan's lips as he rested his head on Phil's shoulder and cuddled into his side. For a man of impressive height, he looked surprisingly small in that moment. The doorbell rang after a few minutes, making both of them jump. Phil tossed a remote on the couch as he walked to the door.   
"Find something to watch, I'm too indecisive," he spoke, his voice becoming less audible as he walked away.   
Dan fiddled with Phil's remote for a while until he finally realized how to work it. He decided on spirited away, a movie he'd seen many times before, but decided that was for the best. In other words, he'd had enough anticipation and surprises throughout the last few days. 

Phil returned swiftly with sushi and two bottles of water in tow. He laid it all out on the coffee table, making it evident that he had ordered enough sushi for his entire apartment complex. Dan blinked hard and raised his eyebrows at Phil, to which he replied with a shrug and a shy smile. Dan pressed play on the movie and dug into the sushi. Their sushi binge consisted of a forgotten movie, Dan desperately trying to teach Phil how to use chopsticks, and Phil talking about a few of his plentiful amount of awkward stories.

It ended with mostly empty sushi containers strewn across the coffee table and Dan's feet on Phil's lap. Dan's eyes began lolling closed halfway through the movie, the featherlight touches from Phil's fingertips comforting him even further. Phil mirrored Dan's action soon afterwards, leaving both of them asleep with the sounds of a no face eating people on tv in the background. 

Dan woke up first, his eyes adjusting to the little amount of light emitting from the lamp and tv screen. He careful removed his feet from Phil's lap before he stood up and collected their trash from the table. He stumbled into Phil's kitchen due to his sleep-drunk haze, and searched for a trash can. He found it under a cabinet that coincidentally held a coffee maker with a clock on it. It read 3:00 am, unsurprisingly to Dan. 

His thoughts were getting loud as he walked back to Phil's living room. He hadn't called any of his family or friends because he didn't have anyone he was really close to. It hurt at times, but he'd grown used to being alone. It was a miracle that he let Phil in as much as he did. He decided to put off calling his Mum until the morning.

He returned to the sofa with droopy eyes and stumbling legs. He sat in the small amount of free space, leaving half of his bum hanging off the couch. He gently poked Phil and said his name in hopes that he wasn't a heavy sleeper. Phil sighed and opened his eyes.   
"Yeah?" He mumbled, his gaze shifting to Dan.   
"It's 3, you should go to bed." Dan's voice was heavy with sleep, his words nearly slurred. Phil sat up and allowed his eyes to adjust to the dim light before stumbling to his bedroom. He looked back at Dan halfway through the hallway. 

"You coming?" Dan crooked his head to the side and nodded slowly, his body trailing behind Phil's. Dan flopped down on the right side of Phil's unmade bed and watched as Phil turned the light off. He inched further to the right somewhat subconsciously, much to Phil's confusion. He pretended not to notice Phil's raised eyebrows before Phil dimmed the light completely. He was in need of some space, almost desperately so. He presumed that's what spending several days glued to someone does to you. 

His mind fixated on Phil. The fact that they'd known each other for such little time yet Phil had seen all of him, inside and out. It was insane for him to let someone in that fast, in fact, it was careless, he thought. Maybe it was just because he thought he was gonna die on that damned island and he at least wanted to get laid first. Maybe he was just fed up with being lonely. Maybe Phil was just too fucking gorgeous to resist. It was a lot to take in.   
"Dan, I can hear your thoughts from here. Go to sleep, love."   
Phil's groggy voice spoke next to Dan. Dan responded with an "Mmph," and turned to face Phil's wall. He was incredibly tired. 

Dan left after breakfast the next morning, or afternoon, rather. He got halfway through the hallway to exit Phil's complex before realizing he never got his number. He sighed and turned around, whipping his phone out and opening it to the contacts page. He knocked twice before Phil answered. 

He skipped any conversation and simply wagged his phone screen in Phil's face, to which he replied with an "oh," and put his number in, setting his contact name as   
"Philly the great" and handing it back to Dan.   
Dan shook his head and flashed an award winning smile. "Goodbye, you absolute dork."   
Phil returned the smile and leaned forward to hug Dan before saying goodbye back and making him promise to visit again the next day. They had to meet with Steve, anyways.   
Phil's eye's lingered on Dan for a few seconds too many as he walked away. He was glad that Dan felt okay enough to be on his own, but at the same time he was worried. They hadn't been apart for what felt like forever. It was a strange feeling being in a state of stress and worry for an extended period of time. It was definitely not a feeling Phil was used to.

Of course Dan ended up at Phil's flat before the sun had even gone down.   
"Is it insane if I say that I missed you?" Dan asked, the worlds muffling due to his lips being pressed against Phil's chest. Phil's chuckle lightly vibrated his chest along with Dan's head. "I missed you too, dork." Dan's smile grew wider at that, and he raised his head up to kiss Phil gently. It lasted for a few seconds before Dan broke away and lowered back into Phil's embrace. For the first time in years, he felt safe.

**Author's Note:**

> shout out to whoever actually made it this far bc i don’t really expect anyone to lmao. I spent months on this fic over the summer but never posted it so I’ve finally built up the courage. thank you so much for reading and I’ll try to have some more fics up soon! <3


End file.
